I wish I had a nickel for every adoptive parent who emphatically stated their child came home and never exhibited the FIRST SIGN of attachment difficulties. I have heard this from parents who brought home infants under one year of age, all the way up to school age kids and teens. Occasionally I hear about a child who had only been in the orphanage for a few months, or a year, when he or she is sent to the US through a hosting program or adopted outright from the orphanage. Often these cases involve children whose parent recently died, necessitating the child’s placement in the orphanage. These kids might be ideal candidates for adoption, assuming they had any kind of healthy, reciprocal relationship... more

I remember telling my parents when I was barely into my teens that someday I wanted to adopt. I always intended to have biological children if possible, but knew that I wanted to build my family through adoption as well.

My husband’s earliest memory of me was when I was in 7th grade, hair in pigtails, and lighting those curly black snakes on our driveway… He was friends with my sister who is five years older than I am. I first remember him coming to my sister’s high school graduation party. I had just finished 7th grade and he was soon to be sophomore in high school. A little more than eight years later, we got married! So, considering I had known him for so long, and had made no... more